It’s been a year plus, huh? Oh, my spouse and I drove 1500+ miles to get a new kitten, meet Neroli. He’s growing fast and keeps Valentino from beating up on the elder cats by being a good wrestling partner. We also visited old friends and got out of the house for a weekend. A couple of days ago, my chemo port was removed, signaling the battle is over, time to put the weapons down and celebrate. I will still be going to multiple cancer doctor appointments for [...] more

I continue to recover from the last year of cancer treatments. Fatigue and brain fog are lifting. I’m getting out for walks again, now the two plus months of downpour seems to have lifted, too. And I’m writing again, in a way I haven’t for a long time. I joined a weekly zoom writing group with an old friend and his wife and others. It’s run really well and intentionally kindly. Everyone is enthused about each other’s work, which helps a lot. I hadn’t engaged directly [...] more

Since my last post, the holidays passed quietly, my radiation treatments are over, I had four teeth extracted, over 350,000 have died from COVID, and many more are living with severe long term effects. There was a riotous failed coup on my birthday. And yet, I’m okay? The rollercoaster is intense, at home, and in the world. 4am scrolling is not an unknown. I wish it was. Re: writing, I get what I can when I can. I feel more like I can write now, [...] more

I’ve been MIA here for a few months. I’ve been watching a lot of series, Queen’s Gambit is amazing, and I think I’ve watched all the Cozy Village British Murder Shows there are to watch. I’ve returned to the Murder Shows of my childhood, with the help of a friend who sent me the full DVD set of Columbo. My spawn in the house have started watching Columbo with me. It’s nice when the world is in chaos, both big and small, ie: my cancer, and being locked up in the [...] more

Untangle Andrew built a wooden frame for privacy. I planted morning glory seeds and sunflower seeds to fill the space between us and neighbors. It’s past Midsomer. The sunflowers stand happy sentinels, as delicate vines begin to wind and climb to strangle them, unaware. I spent a good part of the morning unwinding the precious threads from the sunflower stalks they chose to entangle around instead of the posts of the frame. I wound the long vines around the wood frame. The morning glories are [...] more

Since May’s post, I was biopsied, lumpectomied, had clear margins widened (a second, lesser surgery on Baby Cthulhu Boob) all in the span of 6 weeks. There’s a lot more to this story, quite a rollercoaster. First it was determined I would probably only need spot radiation, but we are now headed toward chemo once the incision heals. I’m blessed (I don’t use that word frequently or lightly) to have good friends from many quarters seeing me through in big and small ways. The pic included shows a gift from one. [...] more

I received the call from the doctor yesterday and heard what I needed in his voice. The mass is cancerous but it’s low grade, and the lymph node biopsy was negative, so far it seems. There is another wonky lymph node, he’ll get a better look when he removes the mass. Next Tuesday is the pathology report appointment and we will figure out how to proceed from there. I’m in a much better place than I was before and through the wait until the call. I was doing quality of life planning, [...] more